Indexing Network Files

We currently have a old Google Search Appliance that is starting to fail and we don't want to pay google to fix it so were looking into other linux\open-source packages that will index all files on our internal network.

Does anybody know of or used similar systems?

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RobertKaucher

Well, you can probably guess what I am going to suggest:

SharePoint+Search Server Express!
Microsoft Search Server Express: Home#

Not Open, but it is free.

qwertyiop

RobertKaucher wrote: »

Well, you can probably guess what I am going to suggest:

SharePoint+Search Server Express!
Microsoft Search Server Express: Home#

Not Open, but it is free.

I never even heard of that before

tiersten

Whats wrong with the Google box? I thought they were based on regular PC hardware?

qwertyiop

tiersten wrote: »

Whats wrong with the Google box? I thought they were based on regular PC hardware?

The Google Search Appliance is about 5 years old and 2 drives on our array have gone. Google made it so that you need to contact them for support when these things happen. The front bezel is mounted on with special key that our predeccors must have lost since its not with our documentation. We no longer have support for it. We finally forced the front bezel off and go in to remove the drive and find that they have even more locks in the box that prevent us from removing the drives. $32k for a support contract isnt worth it

qwertyiop

tiersten wrote: »

Whats wrong with the Google box? I thought they were based on regular PC hardware?

Technically its a rebranded Dell box but they made it in such a way as to prevent people from opening it up

tiersten

Even if you could defeat the tamperproof screws and locks all over the box, I guess there would be no guarantee that your replacement drive would even work.

I know there were some RAID controllers in HP servers that were very picky about the drives that they'd work with. If you didn't have the special blessed version of the drive firmware that was specific to that manufacturer then the controller would reject the drive. The reasoning behind the special firmware was that it made all of their drives be exactly the same capacity down to the number of sectors so they were interchangable.

Google may have done something similar considering how much they get from your support contract. I looked at the documentation for the Google Search Appliance and some of the newer models do let you swap drives yourself but only on two specific models.

qwertyiop

tiersten wrote: »

Even if you could defeat the tamperproof screws and locks all over the box, I guess there would be no guarantee that your replacement drive would even work.

I know there were some RAID controllers in HP servers that were very picky about the drives that they'd work with. If you didn't have the special blessed version of the drive firmware that was specific to that manufacturer then the controller would reject the drive. The reasoning behind the special firmware was that it made all of their drives be exactly the same capacity down to the number of sectors so they were interchangable.

Google may have done something similar considering how much they get from your support contract. I looked at the documentation for the Google Search Appliance and some of the newer models do let you swap drives yourself but only on two specific models.

We were able to force the tamperproof screws off and take the front bezel off but the drives appear to be attached internally. When you try to swap out a rive they all move forward.

Ours is the model gb-1001 and is atleast 5-6 years old.

TheShadow

qwertyiop wrote: »

We were able to force the tamperproof screws off and take the front bezel off but the drives appear to be attached internally. When you try to swap out a rive they all move forward.

Ours is the model gb-1001 and is atleast 5-6 years old.

Sorry but it makes me cringe when I hear someone say they forced a tamper proof screw.

Why don't you go on line or to a Fry's if you have one locally and buy a set of tamper proof screw bits. They are all standard and a decent set has about 30 bits of different types and sizes. Every tech should have a set. They are so common in So. Cal that you can find a set for six to ten dollars, but then we are the major USA port of entry from Asia with many of the repair depots in L.A. and Orange counties. If the drives move together then chances are they use a custom cable or daughter card that the drives are plugged into.

It could just be a RAID backplane which you have loosened. Hold the drives and grab the one you wish to remove by the wide part and wiggle gently back and forth. If it is a rigid backplane the drive should come loose if it is a cable then more chassis dismantling is required.

qwertyiop

I say tamper proof screw but and we all assumed it was the standard kind that you mentioned but it wasnt and there was no mention of even how to open up this model online, not even in googles own documentation

TheShadow

qwertyiop wrote: »

I say tamper proof screw but and we all assumed it was the standard kind that you mentioned but it wasnt and there was no mention of even how to open up this model online, not even in googles own documentation

I wasn't clear, what I meant by they are all standard, it is the set of bits that is standard. As far as the screw it self looking in my small set there are six or seven head types with different size bits for each head type. But the most common as in the type used on disk drives themselves has a bump in the middle of a hex, star or square that keeps you from putting the bit all the way in. That is not the only type in a standard set, there is reverse twist which stops a flat blade and others.

I think it would be really expensive for Google to produce screws and tools that were non-standard i.e. not off the shelf for the relatively few boxes that they make. Automatic screw machines are not cost efficient unless you are making million quantiles.

tiersten

TheShadow wrote: »

I wasn't clear, what I meant by they are all standard, it is the set of bits that is standard.

I wouldn't put it past Google to use something special though. There are teardown pictures of the first couple GSA models and the screw doesn't look like Torx or Security Torx which is what you're describing. I'm not 100% certain as the picture of the screw is pretty fuzzy though.

TheShadow

Looking at the picture it looks like a standard head that they made single use by drilling it out after installing it. Looks like it was a torx at one time with the star points and plating missing. They probably use a screw remover bit in a battery powered drill to remove them. The two popular types are Grabit, and for completely stripped there is Spin-it-out. I have a spin it out set which would have made short work of them and then replace it with a normal screw.

Amazon.com: Eazypower 82681 Spin It Out Damaged Screw Removers, No.0, No.1, No.2, No.3, No.4: Home Improvement

But as you say it is hard to tell even zoomed in with Photoshop. Photoshops color pixel matching does seem to indicate it might be zinc coated over brass which would make stripping away the points easy. Pretty tacky way of doing things. The screws inside seem to be normal.